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Date: Sun, 9 Apr 1995 17:08:33 -0500 (CDT)
From: Anthony F. Beavers <tb2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: A Question about "On the Essence of Truth"
On this rereading of Heidegger's essay "On the Essence of Truth," I have
found a passage that must have made sense to me before, but now it seems
no longer to make sense. I am wondering whether someone might be able to
h*lp me with it. The passage occurs in section 2. "The Inner Possibility
of Accordance." It can be found on pages 123-124 of _Basic Writings_ 1977
edition.
"As thus placed, what stands opposed must traverse an open field of
oppesedness [Entgegen] and nevertheless must maintain its stand as a
thing and show itself as something withstanding [ein Standiges]. This
appearing of the thing in traversing a field of opposedness takes place
within an open region, the openness of which is not first created by the
presenting but rather is only entered into and taken over as a domain of
relatedness."
So far, so good. I am with him. But then he says:
"The relation of the presentative statement to the thing is the
accomplishment of that bearing [Verhaltnis] which originally and always
come to prevail as a comportment [Verhalten]. But all comportment is
distnguished by the fact that, standing in the open region, it adheres to
something opened up *as such*. What is thus opened up, solely in this
strict sense, was experienced early in Western thinking as "what is
present" and for a long time has been named "being."
I am lost from this passage to the end of section 2, mostly because I
cannot determine what comports itself toward what. Comportment suggests
an active relationship, but I'm afraid that I cannot determine the
relata. Is Heidegger saying that the thing comports itself toward a
proposition, or the proposition toward the thing, or is perhaps Dasein
one of the relata? Any help on the matter would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Tony
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Anthony F. Beavers, Ph.D. / Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religion
The University of Evansville / Evansville, Indiana 47722 / (812)479-2682
Metaethics, Metaphysics, Existentialism, and the Judeo-Christian Tradition
Visit the Academy of Human Arts and Sciences
http://cedar.evansville.edu/~ahasweb/links.html
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